Method of assembling wire spring fabrics



Dec. 1924- 31,519,348

w. BARNES METHOD OF ASSEMBLING WIRE SPRING FABRICS Filed Oct. 15. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 @0796 W Bar/166,

5 5% 47M KZ Dec. 16, 1924. 1,519,348

G. W. BARNES METHOD OF ASSEMBLING WIRE SPRING FABRICS Filed Oct. 15, 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. 16, 1924.

UNITED STATES 1,519,348 PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE BARNES, OF KENOSHA, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR TO SIMMONS COMPANY, 01

KENOSHA, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

METHOD OF ASSEMBLING WIRE SPRING FABRICS.

Application filed October 15, i921. Serial No. 507,907.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. BARNES, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kenosha, in the State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Method of Assembling Wire Sprin Fabrics, of which I do declare the followmg to be a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

The present invention, while capable of wider application, is more es eeially designed to improve the method 0 assembling that class of wire spring fabrics, such as are used for spring beds, spring seats, couches and the like, in which a plurality of vertically disposed coil springs are connected together by means of helical springs. A sample of this type of fabric is illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

Figure 1 is a lan View of the corner portion of a spring bed. Figure 2 is a View upon an enlarged scale in vertical section on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1. Figure 3 is a detail plan View showing the initial step in connecting a helical spring to one of the coil springs. Figure 4 is a View in side elevation of the parts shown in Fig. Figure 5 is a View. of the parts shown in Fig. 3 but with the helical spring turned a quarter revolution to advance the loop of such spring towards the coil to be connected thereto. Figure 6 is a View in side elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 5. Figure 7 is a view of the parts shown in Fig. 3 after the loop of the helical spring has engaged the coil spring.

In the drawings, A designates a plurality of coil springs and B denotes the helical springs by which the uppermost coils a of the coil springs A are united. As shown, the coil springs A nearest the outer sides and ends of the spring bed will be suitably connected, as by a tie wire C, to the usual border wire D, but as this manner of con meeting the coil springs to the border wire is well understood and forms no part of the present invention, it need not be more particularly described. It will be understood also that the lower ends of the coil springs A will be connected in any well known or suitable manner.

It has heretofore been the ordinary practice to connect the coil springs A to the helical springs B, when assembling the parts to form the. spring bed or like fabric, in one of two ways, viz., either by providing the ends of the helical springs with clips which, after being passed around the uppermost coils a of the springs A, have their free hook-shaped ends engaged with the outermost coils of the helical springs B, or by first partially bending the ends of the helical springs to form openloops, then placing these loopsover the uppermost coils a and finally, by means of pliers, further bending the ends of the helical springs so as to bring their inturned free ends into alignment with the outermost coils of the helical springs and in a substantially axial line thereof so as to prevent the disengagement of the helical and coil springs and leave the free ends of the helical springs in such position that they cannot mar the mat-' each other and are interlaced, as indicated in.

Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, but this feature forms no part of the present invention. The ends of the helical springs B are formed with loops Z), having an inturned portion forming a seat for the upper coil a of the coil spring A, said seat being preferably eccentrically disposed with reference to the axis of the helical B as shown in Fig. 2, so as to bring the tops of the helicals and coil springs in substantially the same horizontal plane. The inturned portion of the loop is extended close to, or into the end of the helical if desired, so that the open side of the loop is sufficiently closed or obstructed by the end coil 6 of the helical to prevent accidental disengagement of the coil a of the spring A from the loop 6 when the coil springs and helicals are assembled Thus a portion of the coil a maybe inserted between successive coils of the helical across the axis and against the convolution of the helical at the opposite side, and by rotating the helical While the portion of the coil a is held in this eccentric position, said portion of the coil is advanced axially of the helical, and as the inturned end of the loop B occupies a position concentric with the axis of the helical, the portion of the coil a readily advances along the side of such inturned end. B reason of the concentric arrangement of t e inturned end the latter may if desired, be extended into the helical any desired distance without interfering with the connecting of the helical with the coil a, it being merely necessary in effecting the connection to initially engage the portion of the coil a between two coils of the helical beyond the inner end of the inturned portion of the loop 12. After the coil springs A are set in position, the'helical springs B will be unitedthereto by first placing the coils a ofthe spring A between the coils (preferably the two outermost coils) of the spring B, as illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawings; and the spring B will be pressed downward until the coil a asses or nearly passes the inturned end of the loop 6, as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings. When the parts are in this position, the engaged portion of the coil a is held at the upper side of the axis of the helical spring while the latter is turned in the direction of the arrow Fig. 3 until the parts are in the relative position shown in Figs. 5

and 6 of the drawings, at which time the coil 0 will be between the free end 6 of the loop I) and that part of the outermost coil 6 of the spring B approximately a quarter turn distance from the base of the loop, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawings. The spring B will then be further rotated in the direction shown by the arrow in Fig. 3 and at the same time drawn away from the coil a so as to cause this coil a to enter the open end of the loop I), as shown in Fig. 7 of the drawings.

' Thus although the inner end b of the inturne'd portiompf the loop I) is positioned so close to the enid coil of the hellcal that the coil a cannot be passed laterally between said inturned end b and the outermost coil of the helical to engage-within the-loop'b, the roximity of the inturned end 7) and the en coil of the helical oflers 'no obstacle to the engagement of the helical with the coil a in the manner just described.

When the springs are thus connected together, the loop 6 cannot be disengaged from the-coil a of the spring A except by a partial revolution of the spring B, and the danger of the accidental separation of the springs is hence avoided.

While I have shown in the drawings a particular .type of coil spring having the helicals connected to the upper coil thereof and have used the term upholstering spring in the claims, I do not intend thereby to limit the claims to any particular type of spring or to the connection of the helicals to the upper coil of such spring, and, furthermore, the term upholstering spring is intended to include the upright or main spring fabric structure, whether used in connection with upholstery or otherwise, for example, in a bed bottom.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. The method of connecting a helical spring with an upholstering spring which comprises forming the helical'spring with an end seat to which the uphcsltering spring is inaccessible except by rotation of the helical spring, then inserting a portion of the- -upholstering spring between the coils of the helical spring and rotating the latter to move the portion of the upholstering spring toward the seat and thereby engaging the upholstering spring inthe said seat.

2. The method of connecting an upholstering spring with a helical spring having a loop at the end forming a seat into which the upholstering spring is adapted to be engaged solely by relative rotary movement of the helical and upholstering springs, which consists in inserting a portion of the upholstering spring between coils of the helical spring and imparting a relative rotary movement to said springs so that said portion of the upholstering spring is moved within the helical spring along its axis into said seat.

GEORGE \V. BARNES. 

